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Background: Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) is one of the most important commercial fruit tree species. The development of high-quality seedlings is a prerequisite for fruit production. Stem cutting and tissue culture methods are widely applied for propagating blueberry seedlings. Both methods require adventitious roots (ARs), indicating ARs are critical for vegetative propagation. However, the underlying factors and molecular mechanisms regulating blueberry AR formation remain relatively unknown. Results: In this study, the rooting abilities of differentially lignified cuttings from various cultivars or the same cultivars cultured differently were evaluated following an indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) treatment. Field-grown semi-lignified and tissue culture-grown cuttings formed ARs, but the latter had more pericycle and secondary xylem cells and formed ARs more easily and faster. WUSCHEL-related homeobox genes are commonly involved in vascular tissue development and early root meristem maintenance. On the basis of the available Vaccinium corymbosum genome data, 29 putative WOX genes with conserved homeodomains were identified and divided into three major clades (modern/WUS, intermediate, and ancient). These 29 WOX genes were differentially expressed in the root, shoot, leaf, flower bud, and fruit. Additionally, a qRT-PCR analysis revealed that five selected VcWOX genes were responsive to an IBA treatment during AR formation. Accordingly, VcWOX4b was functionally characterized. The overexpression of VcWOX4b in transgenic tobacco inhibited AR formation by altering vascular cell division and differentiation and the indole-3-acetic acid (IAA):cytokinin (CTK) ratio. These observations suggest that VcWOX4b regulates the IAA:CTK ratio to promote primary xylem cell differentiation, thereby inhibiting AR formation. However, an IBA treatment can induce AR formation by inhibiting VcWOX4b expression. Conclusions: Current study elucidates the rooting abilities of various cultivars and the cytological characters of influence on AR formation of blueberry cuttings, which may provide novel insights into the selection of high-quality blueberry cuttings. VcWOX4b, VcWOX8/9a, VcWOX11/12c, and VcWOX13b might regulate blueberry AR formation in an IBA-dependent manner. Ectopic expression of VcWOX4b modulated the IAA:CTK ratio to promotes primary xylem cell differentiation, but inhibit secondary xylem cell differentiation, ultimately leading to decreased AR formation.

Acute liver failure is a serious disease caused by a variety of factors, and immunological injury is an important pathological process. Comprehensive liver treatment efficacy is poor, and the mortality rate is high. Magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate (MgIG) is a new glycyrrhizin drug extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine licorice. The mechanism by which MgIG regulates ConcanavalinA (ConA)-induced immunological liver injury in mice is not completely clear.Immunological liver injury was induced in mice by ConA injection, and the inflammatory macrophages model was induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). MgIG was administered 30 min prior to ConA and LPS treatment. The mice in the different groups were sacrificed 12 h after treatment, and macrophages were measured at 30 min, 1 h, and 2 h after induction. Macrophages, liver, and blood samples were then collected for analysis.After drug administration, the MgIG group showed a marked decrease in serum transaminase levels, reduced apoptosis and hepatic inflammatory responses compared to the ConA group. Furthermore, there was a significant reduction in inflammatory cytokine levels in the serum and liver tissue.These findings demonstrated that MgIG protects against ConA-induced immunological liver injury by markedly alleviating liver inflammation, and this provides guidance for the clinical amelioration of liver inflammation induced by immunological factors.

In Chinese cherry (Prunus pseudocerasus), a typical perennial deciduous fruit tree, flower bud dormancy is a crucial process that helps avoid cold-related injury in winter. A sufficient chill accumulation is the most important factor triggering bud dormancy break. However, the molecular mechanisms of dormancy release have not yet been determined. APETAL2/Ethylene Responsive Factor (AP2/ERF) is a large family of plant transcription factors that play significant roles in plant development and responses to various abiotic stresses, including low temperature. Nevertheless, little is known about the numbers, structural characteristics, molecular phylogenetics, and expression patterns of AP2/ERF genes in dormant cherry flower buds. Here, the PpcAP2/ERF gene family was investigated, and 68 genes were identified from dormant flower bud-derived transcriptome data. These PpcAP2/ERFs were divided into four subfamilies, with 16, 4, 46 and 1 members in PpcAP2, PpcRAV, PpcERF and Soloists, respectively. The amino acid composition of cherry PpcAP2/ERFs revealed common conservative residues and elements compared with Arabidopsis AP2/ERFs. High expression levels of several PpcAP2/ERF genes in dormant flower buds occurred in different dormancy stages, indicating that these genes are involved in flower bud dormancy transition. The expressed PpcAP2/ERF genes significantly enriched in gene ontology’s biological processes were involved in hormone-signaling pathways and may regulate these pathways, which influences dormancy transition. A qRT-PCR analysis showed that 15 PpcAP2/ERF genes were strongly upregulated at 4 °C, indicating that PpcAP2/ERFs could be involved in the cold-mediated dormancy transition.

Improvement of electron injection is essential for highly efficient low-voltage organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this work, we report our study on thermally decomposable Li3N as the electron injection layer (EIL) for OLEDs. We use a quartz crystal microbalance method to investigate the decomposition process of Li3N during vacuum thermal evaporation in situ. Thermodynamics study also proves that Li3N decomposes in vacuum to form metallic lithium and nitrogen. OLEDs with Li3N as the EIL outperform those with conventional LiF in every respect of view. An optimized green OLED with a Li3N EIL shows 35% higher efficiency and more than doubled lifetime compared with the control device with a LiF EIL.

Co/Mo multilayers with various low Co layer thickness and fixed Mo layer thickness were prepared by alternate evaporation. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometry were used to study the magnetic properties and microstructures of the films. The magnetic transition from ferromagnetic to superparamagnetic was observed at a critical thickness, accompanied with the structural evolution of the films from crystalline to amorphous. The contribution of the amorphous microstructure to the magnetic properties is discussed.

A novel blue-light-emitting material, 2,3,6,7-tetramethyl-9,10-dinaphthyl-anthracene (TMADN), was synthesized and characterized. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED), which has a double-layer structure, has been fabricated. In this OLED, the homemade TMADN was used as the light-emitting material and 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (DPA) was used as the hole blocking/electron transporting material, N , N ′-biphenyl- N , N ′-bis-(1-naphenyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diamine (NPB) was used as the hole transporting material. The peak emission of electroluminescence (EL) is at about 456 nm and the CIE coordinates are (0.171, 0.228). The brightness of the device is up to 5600 cd/m 2 at 17 V with the maximum EL efficiency of 2.2 cd/A.

A novel 1,5-naphthylenediamine derivative, 1,5-bis[ N -(1-naphthyl)- N -phenyl]naphthalene diamine (NND), was designed and synthesized. This amine exhibited high glass transition temperature ( T g =127 °C) and hole transporting ability. The device with a structure of ITO/ N , N ′-bis(naphthalene-1-yl)- N , N ′-diphenyl-benzidine(NPB)/NND/2-(4- tert -butylphenyl)-5-(4-biphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD)/Mg:Ag was fabricated and bright blue light emission was obtained with a peak wavelength of 432 nm, and the color coordinate in CIE chromaticity is (0.172, 0.126). The brightness of 250 cd/m 2 at 14 V was achieved.

Organic light emitting devices based on tris-8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum with an ultra-thin insulating film instead of a hole-transporting layer were investigated. Three kinds of single-layer devices were fabricated with silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ), alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) or polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon™) as the insulating films, and they showed better performance than devices without insulating films. The hole injection of these devices was also investigated using hole-only devices. The holes injection enhancement by tunneling effect and electrons blocking of the ultra-thin insulating layers were experimentally proved to have yielded high performance of single-layer devices.

In this study, high-performance organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a buffer layer of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) are demonstrated. Compared with copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), a conventional buffer layer, Teflon shows a lower absorption in the wavelength from 200 nm to 800 nm. OLEDs with a Teflon layer and a CuPc buffer layer were fabricated under the same conditions, and their performances were compared. The results indicate that the OLEDs with a 1.5-nm-thick Teflon buffer layer had a markedly enhanced performance with an efficiency of 9.0 cd/A at a current density of 100 mA/cm2, while those with a 30-nm-thick CuPc buffer layer only showed an efficiency of 6.4 cd/A at the same current density.

Different organic quantum-well structures based on the novel blue-light emitting material 2,3,6,7-tetramethyl-9,10-dinaphthyl-anthracene (TMADN) were introduced in blue-light-emitting diodes, and their influence on the electroluminescent characteristics of the diodes was investigated. An efficiency of 4.1 cd/A was achieved in the diodes with the N,N'-biphenyl-N,N'-bis-(1-naphenyl)-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine (NPB)/ TMADN quantum-well structure, which is higher than the efficiency (3.4 cd/A) observed in the conventional diodes. However, the efficiency of the diodes with the TMADN/4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (DPA) quantum-well structure was only 2.0 cd/A. These results can be explained by the influences of the carrier transfer and balance on devices efficiency.

Single-layer organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a small molecule, tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) as the only active material, have been prepared. In order to achieve an efficient hole injection, a thin layer of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) was inserted between the anode and the Alq3 layer. The effect of the Teflon layer thickness upon the device performance has also been investigated. A brightness of 16 000 cd/m2 with 6 nm thick Teflon layer was achieved, whereas the conventional double-layer OLEDs with N,N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′ biphenyl 4,4′-diamine and Alq3 showed only 9500 cd/m2 in our experiments. The single-layer structure technology is of great importance to the OLED’s commercialization due to its possible lower cost and higher production efficiency. And it is reasonable to infer that, based on this work, higher device performance could be realized by screening both the active material and the barrier layer material.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures, which consist of N, N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N, N′-diphenyl-1, 1′ biphenyl 4, 4′-diamine and 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene (rubrene), and tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) as the electron transporting material, have been fabricated. The results demonstrate that the MQW structure can sharply increase the performance of OLEDs. The diode with a MQW number of 4 exhibits efficiency up to 8.1 cd/A, which is four times that of the conventional diodes without the MQW structure. It is also interesting to find that the light emission from Alq3 and rubrene can be obtained together and the electroluminescent spectrum, which is independent of the driving voltage, varies with the well number. For the device with a well number of 6, pure rubrene light emission is obtained. Our work demonstrates that the organic MQW structure not only can efficiently control the carrier transporting, thus conducive to achieve an electron–hole balance, but also help to adjust the emitting zone in the devices, then providing an option to obtain different emission colors.

The polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) was utilized as buffer layer to improve the performance of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). In the ITO/Teflon/ N , N ′-diphenyl- N , N ′-(3-methylphenyl)-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (TPD)/tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (Alq 3 )/Ca/Ag device, the Teflon film helped to enhance the hole tunneling injection and effectively impede indium diffusion from the ITO electrode. Compared with the devices without Teflon, the turn-on voltage was lowered by 1.5 V due to the introduction of Teflon buffer, and the optimized devices exhibited a luminous efficiency double that of the devices without Teflon layer, and the device lifetime proved to be dramatically increased.

A novel blue light-emitting material, di-spiro-9,9'-di-fluorene-9'',9'''-(9,10-dihydro-anthracene), has been synthesized and fully characterized. Organic electroluminescent (EL) cells have been fabricated using this spiro-annulated compound as the emitting layer with N,N'-di(α-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine (NPB) and/or 4,4',4''-tris(3-methylphenyl-phenylamino)-triphenylamine (m-MTDATA) as the hole transport layer. Pure blue emission with a maximum luminous efficiency up to 4.73 lm/W (15.1 cd/A) has been achieved, demonstrating that this compound might be a suitable blue light-emitter for fabricating blue organic EL devices.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with multiple-quantum-well structures, which consist of copper phthalocyanine and N,N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′ biphenyl 4, 4′-diamine, have been fabricated. The effect of the MQW structure upon the performance of OLEDs with tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum as the emitting material has been investigated. Compared with the luminous efficiency of the conventional diode with the MQW number of 0, that of the diode with the MQW number of 4 has been sharply increased up to 10.8 cd/A. Such an improvement in the device performance was attributed to the improved hole-electron balance, which can be further attributed to the introduction of the MQW structure.

A novel miniaturized, integrated whole-column imaging detection (WCID) system on a microchip is presented. In this system, a program controlled organic light emitting diode (OLED) array was used as a spatial-scanning light source, to achieve imaging by the time sequence of the excited fluorescence. By this mechanism, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) instead of a charge coupled detector (CCD) can be applied to the imaging. Unlike conventional systems, no lenses, fibers or any mechanical components are required either. The novel flat light source provides uniform excitation light without size limitations and outputs a stronger power by pulse driving. The scanning mode greatly reduced the power consumption of the light source, which is valuable for a portable system. Meanwhile, this novel simplified system has a broader linear range, higher sensitivity and higher efficiency in data collection. Isoelectric focusing of R-phycoerythrin (PE) and monitoring of the overall process with WCID were performed on this system. The limit of detection (LOD) was 38 ng mL(-1) or 3.2 pg at 85 nL per column injection of PE. The system provides a technique for WCID capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) on chip and can be used for throughput analysis.

The different behaviors of enhancement of charge injection of an organic electronic device were observed by the incorporation, into the device, of the flat and rough insulating layers (polytetrafluoroethylene) separating the indium tin oxide and organic semiconductor [tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum]. The observed charge injection enhancements can be explained by the carrier tunneling injection only when the morphology of the insulating layers was taken into account in the calculation based on the tunneling model. Our research in theory and experiment provided a further understanding of the carrier tunneling injection through the thin insulating film in organic electronic devices.

863/CIMS is one of the major subjects of automation field in CHINA NATIONAL 863 HIGH-TECH PROGRAM. This paper introduces the strategic target, strategic deployment, working principle, research environment, research on basic and key technology, product pre-research and development, applied engineering and international cooperation of the 863/CIMS.

Lithium cobalt oxide was introduced into organic light-emitting diodes as the electron injection layer. The device with tris(8-hydroxyquinolato) aluminum doped with 10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H,5H,11H-[1]benzopyrano[6,7,8-ij]quinolizin-11-one as the light-emitting layer and LiCoO2 as the electron injection layer showed promising efficiency (10.74cd∕A at 11V) and longer lifetime (2.8 times as much as LiF∕Al control device). Lithium cobalt oxide proved to be thermally decomposed in vacuum to form lithium oxide, which was responsible for the enhanced electron injection.

In this study, Teflon was employed as the anode buffer layer of red doped organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) dopant dye and a bis(salicylidene-o-aminophenolato)-bis(8-quinolinoato)-bisgallium(III) [Ga2(Saph)2q2] host. The OLEDs with the Teflon buffer layer achieved a higher efficiency than OLEDs with a copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) buffer layer. It was also found that the color purity of devices was improved due to the introduction of the Teflon buffer layer.

A simply fabricated microfluidic device using a green organic light emitting diode (OLED) and thin film interference filter as integrated excitation source is presented and applied to fluorescence detection of proteins. A layer-by-layer compact system consisting of glass/PDMS microchip, pinhole, excitation filter and OLED is designed and equipped with a coaxial optical fiber and for fluorescence detection a 300 microm thick excitation filter is employed for eliminating nearly 80% of the unwanted light emitted by OLEDs which has overlaped with the fluorescence spectrum of the dyes. The distance between OLED illuminant and microchannels is limited to approximately 1 mm for sensitive detection. The achieved fluorescence signal of 300 microM Rhodamine 6G is about 13 times as high as that without the excitation filter and 3.5 times the result of a perpendicular detection structure. This system has been used for fluorescence detection of Rhodamine 6G, Alexa 532 and BSA conjugates in 4% linear polyacrymide (LPA) buffer (in 1 x TBE, pH 8.3) and 1.4 fmol and 35 fmol mass detection limits at 0.7 nl injection volume for Alexa and Rhodamine dye have been obtained, respectively.

Electrophosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs) with alternate multilayer structures, which consist of N, N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N, N′-diphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (NPB) and 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene (rubrene) as hole-transporting layers have been fabricated. The effect of the alternate multilayer structures upon ther performance of PHOLEDs with fac-tris(2-phenylpyridine)iridium (Ir(ppy)3) doped into 4,4′-N, N′-dicarbazole-biphenyl (CBP) as the emitting layer has been investigated. Compared with the conventional diode only with NPB as hole-transporting layer, high efficiency and long lifetime diodes have been obtained with the alternate structures. Such an improvement in the device performance was attributed to the improved hole-electron balance, which can be further attributed to the introduction of the alternate multilayer structure into PHOLEDs.

It is generally recognized that hole-transport layers (HTLs) with thickness on the order of tens nanometer are indispensable to high luminance and quantum efficiency in small molecule organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, in this work, without conventional HTLs, a thin polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) layer was introduced as hole-injection layer, followed by deposition of an emissive layer (EML), Alq3 doped with 0.7wt% DMQA. And simultaneously, a blocking and electron transport layer of aluminum (III) bis (2-methyl-8-quinolinato) 4-phenylphenolate (BAlq) ETL was employed to confine holes and excitons in Alq3 layer. The obtained OLEDs exhibited a luminance of over 88000 cd/m2 and external quantum efficiency of 5.4% (21.1 cd/A) at voltage of 19.8 V and current density of 418 mA/cm2. When the Teflon thickness was 10.0 nm under our conditions, well-balanced charge injection could be obtained in OLEDs. It was also found that the high performance was related to triplet-triple annihilation, in which triplet excited tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (3Alq3*) excitons go through annihilative reactions with other 3Alq3* excitons to form singlet excited molecules. It provides a new way of obtaining highly efficient and stable OLEDs with well-balanced charge injection.